Class-y Clip Ups

Our school is implementing School-Wide PBIS, a positive behavior plan that promotes consistency throughout the building and gives students incentives for making good choices. There are many aspects to PBIS and I'm not interested in detailing them here. The important part is this: Clip Chart!

In my classroom, I have a behavior clip chart. The chart consists of seven colors. Green (Ready to Learn) is the neutral middle color. Each student's clothespin is on green at the start of the day. Moving up from green, students reach yellow (Good Day), blue (Great Job) and purple (Outstanding!). Students can also move beyond outstanding to various places around the room. For simplicity's sake, I refer to this as being Off the Chart. Of course, as much as we'd like them to be, our kiddos aren't always angels. Below green, you will find orange (Think About It), red (Consequence), and black (Parent Contact).

My favorite thing about the clip chart is that clothespins are bi-directional. Making one poor choice doesn't mean you are downwardly mobile for the rest of the day. Making several good choices doesn't mean you are upwardly mobile for the rest of the day. Every choice is a new chance to make your behavior the very best it can be. Another nice feature of my clip chart management is that students only move in either direction one color at a time. If you are on blue and you choose not to listen to directions, your parents won't be getting a phone call. On the other hand, if you are on red and you make a good decision, you still have a ways to go before you earn a reward. The last asset I want to mention is the use of the word "Consequence." This gives me a lot of flexibility to choose a disciplinary measure suited to the problem at hand.

Communicating with parents about student behavior is important. I do this in the form of a weekly paper that is sent home in Friday Folders. The paper has a picture of the clip chart for each day of the week. I highlight the student's end color and write a note to parents if necessary. (If a student lands on Parent Contact, I send a note home that day instead of waiting til Friday. For ideas on parent notes, click here!) Parents then have the option to write a note back or to simply sign and return the chart so I know they saw it. Take a look!

As always, keep it class-y, ya'll!